198 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



feet in length, 17 inches of which belong to the tail. 

 It takes between two and three years to reach its full 

 growth, and is consequently a long-lived bird. When 

 alone — and it is rarely found in more than pairs — it is a 

 quiet, silent creature ; but when two or more are gathered 

 together, they can, and often do, make an awful 

 noise. 



It breeds in holes of trees, and while the female is 

 sitting on her two white eggs, the male plasters up the hole 

 with mud, leaving but a small aperture through which she 

 can only just poke the end of her bill in order to be fed, 

 a duty he discharges very assiduously. 



The head, base of the bill, back, wings, and belly are 

 black ; the neck ends of the upper tail coverts, tail, thighs, 

 vent, and wing spot are white ; a broad black band crosses 

 the terminal third of the tail ; the broad casque is red 

 above, passing into yellow, the tip is red, and the lower 

 mandible is whitish yellow. 



Coxc.we-Casquei) Horxbill — This is a smaller bird 

 than the last, measuring but 22 inches in total length, 8 of 

 which belong to the tail. It is found in all parts of India, 

 generally in pairs, and in some parts its. flesh is partaken of 

 as an adjuvant by parturient women. The plumage is 

 grey, darker above ; the tail is black towards the end, but 

 the extreme tip is white. 



Crowned, or Malabar Pied Hornbill. — Found in the 

 jungles of Southern India, where it lives mainly on 

 fruit, breeding in holes of trees, which it plasters up wnth 

 mud while the female is sitting. 



The general colour is black, but the breast, tips of the 

 primaries, and secondaries, and the three outside tail 

 feathers on each side are white ; the base of both mandi- 

 bles is black, and the liinder margin of the casque also, in 

 the male ; the whole bill is very large and much compressed 



